Hydroplane Racing

[Yayap]

As some of you know, I'm part of a hydroplane racing team pit crew.
We're headed out to Tonawanda NY for the races this weekend.

http://hydroplanequebec.com/en/ usually has a live stream if any of you wants to watch.
Races usually start around 10:30am EDT Saturday and Sunday.

Our team is CS-20 Mad Mohawk Choppers in the 2.5 liter class.
http://hydroplanequebec.com/en/equipes/2-5-litres/cs20/

See you all when I get back.
-Yayap

[philie]

Are you gonna be broadcasted so we can look?

[NorthStar]

I saw about 5 minutes of the livestream, it's pretty cool, but I didn't stick around to the end to see if you won or not, can you give me the answer? ;D

[Yayap]

I saw about 5 minutes of the livestream, it's pretty cool, but I didn't stick around to the end to see if you won or not, can you give me the answer? ;D


We unfortunately didn't do to well, we got cut off in almost every race. (and in hydroplane racing, that worthy of penalties) Watered down our engine.
In the second heat, another boat hit us and we had quite a bit of damage. We worked on the boat from 5pm to 1:30am putting on a band-aid so we could get back out the next morning.

We ran fast, but others were faster so we didn't make it to the finals. Finished 3rd in semi-finals though, only the winner of that heat gets added to the final field. (9 boats get into final by points in qualifying heats + 1 from semi-final)

Needless to say, I'm tired and I burnt my elbow on the exhaust manifold of another boat when I tripped pulling our damaged boat passed the others to get to the crane before we sank.

[Yayap]

Hydroplanequebec finally posted replays of 2 of the accidents.
1st one is a flat bottom class that hit a bad wave.

2nd is the 2.5L final (our class) accident happened right after the start and was most dangerous due to all the other boats being close by, he was lucky no one ran him over after the initial blowover. Whenever an accident happens, the race is red flaged and restarts from the begining later on. Although due to bad wind conditions, after the 2nd accident, the races were cancelled for the rest of the weekend.

http://hydroplanequebec.com/2011/08/accidents-de-tonawanda-2011/

[Yayap]

Well, I didn't go to the regatta this week-end because I was busy. But my team did. And it didn't turn good. They wreaked in a qualifying race. Replay can be found below.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17640261

Accident is 59 minutes in.

They pull the boat out and you can see the damage at 1h:17:45 in. Looks like we have allot of work to do. :(

Latest update that I have says that my driver is on his way back from the hospital.

[Yayap]

New update: just saw my driver give an interview. Has a few bruises and is sore but has no major injuries.

[Capitalier]

yayap demonstrates the value of his "note-taking" in the real world, with only 3 accidents happening under his watch

[Muso]

Are you an engineer Yayap?

I ask because my friend does this kind of stuff but with little flying planes. He is an aeronautical engineer. Are you the water type?

Very impressive man.

[Yayap]

No, I'm just a spotter. Think of Nascar on water. I'm the guy talking to the driver on the radio letting him know what is going on around him.